Saturday, January 14, 2006

UAB 45, Memphis 7

Dedicated to Chris Jones.

Together we will bring order to the galaxy...

This picture has cracked me up for obvious reasons, but today I realized they are lined up by order of height. Which also cracks me up.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

New Links

Here's a few sites that I've had bookmarked and have been reading for awhile now, but for some reason have never bothered to actually link to:

- RJYH. Warren wrote THE BOOK. It's inexcusable that I've left him off for so long.

- SportsPickle.com - Seriously, seriously, funny. Who knew Marcus Vick was also a Nazi war criminal?

- Blake's Eyes. Along with Hack, has inspired me to actually use the camera on my camera phone from time to time.

- Stumbling Through The Lines. Another Bama blogger, and she seems like a nice girl.

- The House Rock Built. ND blogger, but still funny.

- Indie for Dummies. It's in Italian so I really have no clue what they are saying about the artitsts, but it's also helped me find some new stuff to listen to and gotten me out of my usual old country and southern rock rut from time to time.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!

Those places will KILL you!

01-12-2006

- Best: The Weather Man. Cage has really become one of my favorite actors lately. His whole "action star" phase was kind of lame, but in stuff like this, Lord of War, and Leaving Las Vegas he really shows his ability to completely inhabit a character. This was one of those "so pathetic you can't help but feel for the guy, even though he's kind of a douche and brings it all on himself" character study movies, and I enjoyed it immensely. I'm not sure if I'd want to watch it a lot, it's kind of a downer at times, but it had a lot going for it.

- Favorite: The Ladies Man. OMG! ROTFLMAO! One of the few SNL skit movies that actually panned out. I think I'll go to Best Buy tonight and pick this up.

- Worst: The Shining. Yeah, I get the whole "King is more concerned with external evil while Kubrick chose to play more towards the evil inside of men" angle, but it was just boring beyond belief. I really, really wish I hadn't watched it.

- Italian children discover what their American counterparts have known for decades: Soccer is no match for grown men in costumes throwing chairs at each other! Curse the Americans and their cultural imperialism!

- I've always thought that drowning would be the worst way to go, but giant birds piercing your skull and then hovering above you while you die might just top it.

- Awesome AP Headline: Clinton Strikes Deal for AIDS Drugs. I knew all that womanizing would catch up to him eventually.

UAB 31, Southern Miss 26

It's been a busy last couple of nights, but now I'm back to the dynasty!

bahbud la bluh ba ba ba ba

bwaaaaaaaaaa! ba ba ba ba baba baba ba ba ba ba da ba du ba da da, ba dad ba da dub a do ba da da da da da da, ba ba ba ba baba baba ba ba ba ba da ba du ba da da, ba dad ba da dub a do ba, ba ba bada badaba da ba do ba da, bo bo. bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

01-11-2006

- Best: In America. Probably the sweetest "family" drama I've ever seen. The scripting and characters really carried it for me. There were a few cliched moments, but for the most part I really did care what happened to them and all of the actors carried their load with ease.

- Favorite: Walk the Line. Time to drop this one. Claudia goes back to Ole Miss Monday so we hung out and since she hadn't seen it yet and I've been itching to see it again we went last night. I'm still amazed at how they pulled off the music in this. I had just gotten to where I could take The Sun Years out of my CD player in the car and listen to something else, but once we left the theater I had to put it back in. The only sour note is that the douche bag from One Tree Hill plays the WORST Elvis I've ever seen. I know the movie is about Cash, but he's Elvis! Show the man some respect and cast someone that can play him.

- Worst: Showgirls. I know a lot of people are down with this for how campy and silly it is, but it made my skin crawl. I talk a good game, but deep down I'm a pretty big prude and I seriously feel like a bad person for watching this.

- Headed out to see UAB start their conference play against Tulsa. Should be an easy win but, much like the football team, this Blazer basketball team has been known to inexplicably drop a few here and there. Further, it took several games to get things sorted out when Eddins went out last season so who knows what will happen? Fingers crossed.

Update:
- UAB 84, Tulsa 54: Looks like my worries were totally unfounded. The Blazers came out strong on defense but missed way too many open shots in the first few minutes, but once they got their rhythm they put it to a completely outmatched Tulsa. It was over with 10 to go in the first and it just got uglier and uglier from there on. I'm feeling pretty confident about a good conference run with only Houston, Memphis and a road game at UTEP to feel anxious over.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

01-10-2006

- Best: Suspicion. Suplanted To Catch a Thief as favorite Hitchcock AND favorite Grant. Grant's performance is superb in this one. He was absolutely malevolent and he conveyed more in one facial expression than most actors would have with the whole script. Definitely his finest performance. Hitchcock was also in fine form when he made this, building the suspense and tension better than in any of his other movies (with the possible exception of Notorious. When he's walking up the stairs with the glass of milk? Brilliant.) and ending on the exact right note. If you haven't seen any Hitchcock's and want to know what the fuss is all about, start with this one.

- Favorite: Ginger Snaps. Just a good, old fashioned monster movie. After the glut of post-Scream slasher pictures it's good to see this type of movie making a comeback.

- Worst: Elektra. First, why make a spin off of a movie that pretty much no one liked? Second, if even the actress playing the title character says it sucked and she only did it out of contractual obligations, then you know something is amiss.

Life is unfair...

How is that Reese, REESE, has 3.75 million to drop on Nick and Jessica's house?

Black Like Me

I was starting to get nervous until #7. Thankfully I prefer money to puppy sandwiches.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Don't pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang...

So there's this thing called "The Starbucks Challenge" where people go in and see if they really will brew you fair trade coffee. Which, okay, if you want to hold the corporate behemoth accountable, cool, but I don't really care for Starbucks and there's no way in hell I'm going to the Waffle House and being all "is this coffee fair trade?" cause those waitresses will cut you. Also, I'm an evil and heartless capitalist so whatever. Anyway, what I wanted to know is what happens if you go in one and they won't brew it for you or they don't have it? Apparently a San Francisco location isn't living up to the challenge and is finding out. Get some ELF!

01-09-2006

- Best: House of Sand and Fog. Kind of a sleeper for me. It's an actor's movie and I usually hate that, but the characters are so compelling and the script is written in such a way that there are so many new revelations at each turn that you can't help but wish it would keep going.

- Favorite: Black Dog. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "Nobody puts Randy Travis in a corner!" So terrible, but so good. Rent it and laugh.

- Worst: Heaven. Maybe not worst, but certainly the boringest movie of the year. A woman's family is destroyed by a drug trade aided by the police, so she takes matters into her own hands and accidentally kills several innocent people when attempting to murder a key drug dealer. Sounds like a good setup, right? Too bad they went nowhere with it. Seriously, this movie had no point or purpose or plot or anything. Just terrible.

- Why would Ted Kennedy name his dog Splash? Was "Dead Broad in an Oldsmobile" too long to fit on the tag?

- For next time I'm camping in a cannibal infested jungle:














- Looks like I'm now one of the girls.

- And on that note, tonight's recipe:

Mexican Lasagna

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground chicken breast (or beef, whatever)
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 (14-oz) can stewed tomatoes or fire-roasted chopped tomatoes
1 cup medium heat taco sauce (or salsa)
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
1 cup frozen corn kernels
Salt
8 (8 inch) flour tortillas
2 1/2 cups shredded cheese
2 scallions, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Add chicken and season with chili powder, cumin, and red onion. Brown the meat, 5 minutes. Add stewed tomatoes or fire-roasted chopped tomatoes and taco sauce. Add black beans and corn. Heat the mixture through, 2 to 3 minutes then season with salt, to your taste.

Coat a shallow baking dish with remaining extra-virgin olive oil. Cut the tortillas in half or quarters to make them easy to layer with. Build lasagna in layers of meat and beans, then tortillas, then cheese. Repeat: meat, tortilla, cheese again. Bake lasagna 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

UAB 49, Marshall 35

- It's like the machine knew there was supposed to be a special teams meltdown at this point! TWO blocked punts, giving up a 99 yard kick off return touchdown...it was like watching the real game. Except this time we win, bitches!

- After the American Eagle admission, I might as well quit trying to hide my metrosexuality and admit to loving to cook, too. Sarah came over after work to watch Desperate Housewives (seriously, what is wrong with me?) so I decided I'd cook dinner, and since breadchick and all 'em are all about the posting recipes of what they cook I might as well do the same. Why am I such a girl?

Pan-Cooked Chuck Eye Beef Steak with Herbed Horseradish Sauce

2 (3/4 to 1 inch thick) boneless beef chuck eye steaks
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup beef broth
1 1/2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons unsalted butter or margarine, at room temperature

Brush steaks with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat a medium size, heavy skillet over medium heat until hot; add steaks and cook, uncovered, 9 to 12 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.
Transfer steaks to serving plates; tent with foil to keep warm. Add broth, horseradish, and Dijon; boil until reduced to 1/4 cup, stirring to loosen clinging particles. Remove from heat; whisk in butter and freshly ground pepper to taste. Makes 2 servings.

- I doubled mine because I'm a big boy and two servings = one to me. Anyway, it was pretty good if you are down with the pan cooked steak. I'm a grill man myself, but the sauce made it interesting.

Pittsburgh 31, Cincinatti 17

I have no idea how this game would have gone with Carson Palmer behind center. As much as I don't want to give credit to a USC QB, he probably could have pulled off the win, or at least turned it into a shoot out. Instead, we survive and head back out for more sweet, sweet (drunken?) revenge. I'm willing to be that the Colts choke at some point during the play offs. Let's hope it's next weekend.

UAB 37, SMU 0

No 80 yard hail marys this time around.